


Into the Crossing

by TheOpiumMaiden



Category: Drifters (Anime & Manga), Original Work
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Dark Fantasy, Elves, Fantasy, Fantasy Creatures, Fantasy World, Historical Figures, Isekai, Monsters, Pseudo-History
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 08:21:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18133274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOpiumMaiden/pseuds/TheOpiumMaiden
Summary: When the horrifying, otherworldly organization known only as The Shockers arrive in the temporal Nexus called the Kreuzung with the intention of conquering the entirety of existence, 6 figures of great combat prowess are called forth by a mysterious entity known only as The Warden. Alone they must face and destroy The Shockers. However, it will be no small task, for they face not only a fanatical army, a horde of otherworldly beasts, and advanced technology beyond anything they had ever seen before, The Shockers have summoned their own horde of champions from all across the timelines.Inspired by and loosely based on the manga Drifters by Kouta Hirano. This story takes place in a separate setting that is none the less similar enough that I still think it counts as a fanfic.





	Into the Crossing

Roaring arose into the air as the prison gates were opened, the crowd of spectators cheering and yelling insults as the guards forced out the lone inhabitant of the holding area. The captive fell to the ground as one of the guards pushed him out the door, the prisoner had little time before he could feel everything from fruits to stones pelting his body. One of the Guards was quick to grab a hold of the prisoners long hair and pull him up to his feet. The guard delivered a swift kick to the prisoner's buttocks, forcing him to move forward. He kept his head down, though he complied with the demands to keep moving. The crowd was becoming increasingly volatile. Though he tried to ignore the jeering, his attention was caught when he felt something hit him hard in the head, only to see a defaced crucifix fall at his feet. The boy turned to the side from where it had come, catching sight of a smaller group had gathered, calling out to the bound prisoner and waving their hands at him. The group had started a fire, and the flame was being fed with artifacts, catholic paraphernalia. The prisoner looked on in horror as he saw the men tossing their loot, defaced statues of Christ and his mother, into the fire, tearing apart the bibles that he and his companions had read for inspiration, and desecrating their relics before destroying them. However, he had little time to react before he felt another sharp kick, this time to his legs, signaling that the guards wanted him to keep moving. The prisoner turned his face to the ground before him, trying to remember the prayers that the Jesuits had taught him.

_Oh Lord,_ he repeated over in his head,  _Deliver me from this evil, deliver me from these corrupted people and into your blessed kingdom._

While in his trance, he was suddenly shocked to feel the weight of one of the guards cold, armor-clad hand forced him to his knees and slammed his head against a hard stone slab. The guard relished in this for a slight moment, a wicked giggle emanating from under his helmet. 

"The day has come, Shirou. You may have thought that your little rebellion would save you from this, so wrapped up in your own delusions. But the natural order always prevails, and you and your foreign religion's days have come to an end."

Shirou replied calmly, "You may kill my body, as you slaughtered my companions, but known this. We shall live eternally in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and his Father even if you destroy our bodies. You may break us, but you cannot kill us in a meaningful way. You know not that you only send us to paradise, while you condemn yourself to hellfire."

The spectators booed loudly at Shirou's speech, and the guard responded by spitting onto the boy's face and letting out a laugh. 

"Know this much, boy. The Shogun has ordered for your death to be an example to all. When we're done taking that head of yours off its shoulders, the Shogun wants it displayed in the capital for every one of you Christians to know that there is nothing you can do to stop us from driving your out, that Japan will never submit to foreigners like the Nanban and those who will face death for their mistakes. The head of the would-be rebel, Amakusa Shirou, will hang in Edo to show what happens to those who go against the natural order. So now, Amakusa Shirou, you have been condemned to death by beheading for the crime of rebellion against the will of Heaven and the order of Nature by promoting a foreign ideology incompatible with Japanese life. You shall die as all who follow your cult."

The crowd's roaring became deafening as the guard backed away, and the executioner's blade fell. Shirou closed his eyes tightly and braced for the impact. He would be with God soon.

* * *

A blinding white flash overtook Shirou. He opened his eyes, only to see a swirling cloud of white light all around him. He reached out, only to find himself floating in what seemed to be a void. Was this heaven? It must be, he thought. Shirou closed his eyes once more, as the relaxed in the comforting warm glow of the lights, as he allowed his body to drift away. He felt his body rise up, ever faster towards the edge of the white void. His body seemed to disappear into the lights as he approached the edge, dissipating into a white mist as he passed through. 

When he opened his eyes, however, the scene was anything but heavenly. Shirou forced his eyes to focus on the lights in front of him, only to find a lamp on a table. Across from him, sat a man, holding a pen with a paper laying on the table in front of them both. The figure's face was hard to make out, shadowed over by a wide-brimmed hat, unlike anything that Shirou had seen before. He was seemingly dressed in a kimono, of a simple grey variety. Clearly aged hands waved out to him, as the figure began to speak.

 

"I can imagine that you are very confused right now," the figure uttered out in a gravelly voice. "It seems you have been selected by the powers that be to aid me in my struggle. Though I must say that I am not too pleased that they would send a mere child to me." 

Shirou rubbed his eyes vigorously, unable to focus on anything else in the dark room but the oil lamp. "Where....what...who?"

"Yes, yes, all questions will be answered soon, Shirou"

"Wha..." Shirou felt a sudden lucidity overtake him as the figure addressed him by his family name. "How do you know my name?"

The figure rubbed his hands together, letting out a slight laugh. "I guess I must introduce myself. The people of this world refer to me as The Warden. I was the first human being to enter into this place, and as a result, I have attained may abilities and powers that many other humans may find to be unnatural. But quite contrary, such things are the very nature of this realm. Such great power emanates from the very fabric of this place that all things within are filled with its fortifying essence. Using my powers I summoned you here, among others, to aid me."

Shirou frowned in annoyance, "What are you talking about? What powers, what others? The last thing I remember is that I was chained up about to be executed, only to be floating in some kind of luminous void. Now here I am, listening to you ramble on about special powers and helping you. Where am I?"

"My dear boy, you are in nowhere else but the Kreuzung, the Nexus of Timelines!" 

"The what of what?" Shirou inquired, only to be cut off by The Warden.

"All your questions will be answered in time, but quickly, you must meet the others, for they will be your companions, so it will be best that you all become acquainted as soon as possible."

With that line, The Warden disintegrated into a whisp, wafting up like smoke, as the fire in the oil lamp went out, shrouding the entire room in pitch darkness. Shirou felt himself tossed about as the room seemed to melt and warp, falling rapidly into the ground, before solidifying again and stopping suddenly. The oil lamp lit up once more, followed by another to his left, revealing a man, seated like him. The figure was cloaked in some kind of tunic, and Shirou took not of his abundant facial hair, bright red. He was clearly some kind of Nanban, and yet he looked so much different from the men from Portugal. To the left of him, another light was lit, revealing another man, distinct from his counterpart to the right by his complete lack of facial hair, save for a small, incomplete mustache, and his dark coppery brown skin and long black hair. The process repeated, this time a man with dark black skin, dressed much more like the Portuguese soldiers that accompanied the Jesuits, yet Shirou had only seen men that looked like him as slaves to the soldiers and priests, never as a soldier in his own right. The next person to be revealed as a woman, herself with light brown colored hair, and dressed in clothes much like the other Nanban, but seemingly more primitive. The final to be revealed was another Nanban, though this one was in possession of pitch black hair, which hung in long, curly locks draped down his shoulders, and he had a long, thick mustache. Something about this one made Shirou very uncomfortable, like the aura of him was deeply malevolent. 

The final seat to be illuminated was that of The Warden, who sat in the middle the circle of tables, between all the new arrivals. 

"Tu! Vă cer răspunsuri acum!" shouted the dark-haired man in a booming, angry voice in a language that Shirou could not identify, though noted that it sounded vaguely like Portuguese.

"Hwat sagda hē?" inquired the man seated to left of Shirou, only for the black man to blurt out in confusion, "Qu'est-ce qui se passe? Où suis-je?"

"Īn īxtepetla" the brown-skinned man said seemingly to himself, while the woman shouted angrily to The Warden, "Pad? Suīs ne sepetme nedimmi!"

Shirou simply stayed silent in confusion at the Tower of Bable transpiring before him, before the warden smiled sheepishly. 

"Oh dear me, I seem to have forgotten, I need to remove that pesky language barrier." The Warden raised his hands once more, the appendages becoming cloaked in bright light, that broke off into 6 beams that shot forward and each of the six arrivals. When the light had passed, the dark-haired man was once again the first to speak.

"You God-forsaken demon, what the hell was that!" seemingly in Japanese to Shirou's ears.

"You gave him the ability to speak Japanese?" Shirou stammered out, only for The Warden to once again laugh.

"No boy, my spell simply makes you hear his words as your own language, the same as all the people in this realm."

"Now that we can all understand each other, I believe you owe us some answers, wizard." the black man said to The Warden.

The Warden tipped his hat, returning to sitting in his chair. "Yes, I suppose I did tell you that I would explain everything to you." The man reached into a pocket sewn into his kimono, retrieving a carved wooden smoking pipe, placing a small bit of tobacco into it, and lighting it. "I was the one who summoned you all here. Though I cannot say that I was specifically desiring to summon your exact persons."

The Warden relaxed a bit in his chair as he continued to speak. "This place you have all arrived in, it is a nexus between timelines, the place called The Kreuzung. You see, for all the events that transpire in the world of humanity, a timeline exists for every possible divergence that could happen. This place, the Kreuzung, is a point of intermingling, where all timelines cross over at their very end, tapering off into a depository at the end of time. On occasion, a few individuals experience a bit of a time slip, a natural glitch in the time stream, and they end up here. Though I am certainly not from the earliest point in our timelines, I was the first to come here, and since then it has been my duty to protect and guard the time portals, the access points to all the timelines. Unfortunately, I cannot allow them to return to their time periods for the safety of this place, but the people who settled here formed communities in time, and they have lives and families, generations have lived and died here. I called you here because all of this is in danger."

"What are you talking about? Timelines, nexus points, none of this makes sense?" The red-haired man responded.

"Allow me to finish, please. The very existence of this place is threatened ever since the Shockers arrived."

"Shockers?" asked Shirou.

"We don't know what timeline they came from, only that they arrived in vast numbers after becoming aware of the existence of this place. Their army is vast and more powerful and advanced than anything we have seen before. They are brutal, killing indiscriminately, abducting those they find useful to force them into their ranks. They are set on conquering this land, and if they do, the consequences could be devastating, for, with the Kreuzung, they gain access to every timeline in existence. They have already gained access to some portals, though they have no means to access and worlds other than their own as of yet. Thus not just our world, but your world and all like it could be in danger too. Yours is the last timeline from which they have no knowledge of its portal, so I have summoned you here, in this place."

Shirou pondered over this information, as another of the group, the brown-skinned man, spoke again. "So why were we chosen in particular?"

"The powers that be have informed me of what binds you all together, your all fought against powers greater than your own for freedom. Though you all perished in your struggles, it appears that your deaths gave the powers the excuse to take you from your world without any endangerment to your history.

Widukind, the King of the Saxons, who fought Emperor Charlemagne for his people's right to worship their Gods without fear.

Toussaint Louverture, the slave turned Soldier who brought Napoleon to his knees.

Cuauhtemoc, the final Mexica who defied the Spanish conquistadors.

Boudica, who fought to drive out Roman Occupation of her home.

Vlad Dracula, who waged war against the Ottomans who controlled his people's fate.

Amakusa Shirou, the peasant boy who took on a Shogun for the freedom to worship as the people wanted.

All of you fought for the greater good, and now I ask you once more to fight for the good of not just the world, but for the whole of existence. You will face a challenge unlike anything ever before but know well that the Kreuzung rewards those who dwell in her with power, unlike anything they have known before. This sanctuary will be a safe haven from the Shockers and their minions, for you to use as you see fit. Good luck, drifters."

With that, the oil lamps once again were snuffed out, and the room returned to pitch darkness.

* * *

 

Light slowly began to flood in, as the windows of the small templelike building the 6 found themselves housed in became illuminated with natural daylight. The six found themselves passed out in a circle, laid out on the floor in the same order as The Warden had seated them. Shirou held his head in his hands as his head was flushed with intense pain. 

"You're all still here," Toussaint remarked, taking note of the others.

"So then, I guess it was not just a dream," Vlad responded in turn, looking around at the others and at the building he was in. "Have you ever seen a place like this before?"

"I can't say that I have ever seen anything like this", Widukind replied, taking note of the strange architecture of the temple, with its imposing interior structure, blunt and blocky, seemingly decorated in red regalia, with the image of a red star above each of the arched windows, with what looked to be a hammer and a harvesting sickle in the center of the star. 

Cuauhtemoc stood up, "I don't like this place, whatever it is. I say we leave."

"And where do we go?" Boudica interjected.

"She's right. Assuming that the wizard was telling the truth, there really is nowhere we can go. We're stranded in, somewhere. Even if we wanted to ignore him and return home, I don't think there's any possibility that we could."

Shirou thought back to his situation at home. The choice was either to wander an unknown world with a cast of strangers plucked from across history, or return home and be executed without a second thought. "I wouldn't return if it was an option, I would be killed in any case."

Cuauhtemoc thought for a second, "I wouldn't be surprised if that wizard picked us specifically because returning home would be a certain death sentence for us all. Am I wrong?"

The entire group looked among each other, shaking their heads in agreement. 

"So we're all wanted men then?" Toussaint asked

Boudica nodded, "It would appear so."

Widukind thought for a second, before speaking once more, "Fuck it then, we might as well do this."

"Are you suggesting we carry out that demon's work?" Vlad retorted? "We have no idea what his motives are, he could be leading us into our own demise."

"We have nothing left to go back to. If your situations are anything like my own, our kingdoms are gone, and there was no hope for any kind of come back. We're dead both literally and figurative in our own world. There's no harm in carrying out this mission." 

Vlad scoffed, "Speak for yourself, pagan. I was well on my way to taking back what was mine. Now I am trapped in the game of some hellspawn and being told we should listen to it by some heathen. Count yourself lucky I don't kill you where you stand right now."

"Enough," shouted Toussaint, "Regardless of what may have passed in our lives, the point stands that we are stranded here. Even if we take off, that wizard is very well the only one who can get us back to our own worlds. Listening to him may be the only way back for us."

Vlad muttered a bit, before conceding the point. "Very well, we will do as he asks, if only to get back home."

"That just leaves the question," Boudica spoke, "Where the hell are we?"

The party froze when they heard the sound of a collection of metal clicks, all going off at the same time behind them. The six turned around slowly, to see a vast collection of armed men and women, carrying strange, silver firearms with emanating red beams, as well as others armed with unusual, segmented swords with pipes running down the sides of the blades. The soldiers, clad in dark green overcoats, with red badges carrying that same stared symbol on their arms, pointed the weapons at the party, who quickly looked around, dropping their own weapons in submission. Out of the ranks stepped a platinum blond haired man, young, with a red cap on and a more ornate version of the overcoat that the others were wearing. He smiled, looking over each one of the party.

"You are in the Land of October, Comrades."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Naturally, Vlad, Widukind, Toussaint, Cuauhtemoc, and Boudica are speaking Romanian, Old Saxon, French, Nahuatl, and Common Brittonic respectively. Vlad asks, "You, I demand answers from you now!" which prompts Widukind to ask "What is he saying?". Toussaint asks, "What is happening, where am I?" while Cuauhtemoc only remarks of the situation that "This is stupid." While Boudica chastises The Warden, saying "What, you haven't told me anything"


End file.
